"There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, who was born to Abraham of Agar, and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites. They are also called Saracens, which is derived from Sarras kenoi, or destitute of Sara, because of what Agar said to the angel: 'Sara hath sent me away destitute.' These used to be idolaters and worshiped the morning star and Aphrodite, whom in their own language they called Khabár, which means great. And so down to the time of Heraclius they were very great idolaters. From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration."

Islam is one of the major world religions with an estimated 1.3 billion followers worldwide [1]. The name Islam comes from an Arabic term meaning submission, a reference to the central belief that the goal of religion, or of a true believer, is submission to God's will. Adherents of Islam are referred to as Muslims.

Islam teaches that God (in Arabic, Allah) revealed his direct word and commands for mankind to Muhammad (c. 570–632) in the form of the Qur'an (also Koran), and to other prophets (including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus), many of whom are Biblical figures shared with Christianity and Judaism. Despite admitting the ministry of prophets earlier than Muhammad, Islam asserts that the primary written record of God's revelation to humankind is the Qur'an, which Muslims believe to be flawless, immutable, and the final revelation of God.

Islam has been termed one of the three Abrahamic religions, along with Christianity and Judaism. At times, the Bahá'í Faith is also included.

Islam teaches that parts of the Bible have been forgotten, misinterpreted, or distorted by Christians and Jews. Given this perspective, Islam views the Qur'an as corrective of Jewish and Christian scriptures.

Muslims do not hold the divinity of Jesus Christ and his unique salvific role, and the teachings of Islam in this respect have been likened to a compound heresy composed of elements of Arianism, Nestorianism, and Docetism ("...They did not kill him [Jesus] and they did not crucify him, but it was made to seem so to them..." Qur'an, 4:157), with some Pelagian and also Monarchianistic (i.e., anti-Trinitarian)] elements.

Muslims hold that Islam is essentially the same belief as that of all the messengers sent by God to mankind since Adam, with the Qur'an (the one definitive text of the Muslim faith) codifying the final revelation of God. Islam views Judaism and Christianity as incomplete derivatives of the teachings of certain prophets—notably Abraham—and therefore acknowledges their Abrahamic roots, whilst the Qur'an calls them People of the Book.

According to the Qur'an Jesus is the Christ, the son of Mary, the Messenger of God. Further, that Jesus was given the Gospel as a Book from God, and Jesus came to confirm the Torah, and also to permit some of what was prohibited upon the sons of Israel for some reasons. It also teaches the Jesus the Christ is a Word from God, and a Messenger sent by Him.

Islam has three primary branches of belief, based largely on a historical disagreement over the succession of authority after Muhammad's death. These are known as Sunni, Shi'ite, and Kharijite.

Contents

Orthodoxy and Islam

The rise of Islam presented a major challenge to Orthodoxy. Beginning in the seventh century, major portions of the Orthodox heartlands (in Syria and Egypt) fell under Muslim rule. By the fifteenth century, most traditionally Orthodox lands were controlled either by Muslim or Roman Catholic rulers, with the exception of northeastern Russia (the Grand Principality of Moscow) and the Ethiopian highlands. The Orthodox generally accepted rule by non-Orthodox governments, provided that freedom of worship was guaranteed. In Ottoman lands, governed under the millet system (by which people were grouped by religion rather than nationality), Orthodox bishops also served as Ethnarchs (political rulers of their communities).[1] Ottoman implementation of the devsirme tax system witnessed Orthodox children of the rural populations of the Balkans, the flower of Orthodox Christendom, conscripted before adolescence and brought up as Muslims. As their empire declined, the Ottoman Muslims became decreasingly tolerant of Orthodox Chrstians.

Islam and the West: Towards an Anti-Civilization. Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: Diocese of Great Britain and Ireland website. (Argues that the so-called ‘clash of civilizations’ between the “west” and “islam” is not the real issue, rather, due to pervasive secularism, it is the clash between between “civilization” and “anti-civilization” that is the real threat).

(Dr. Otmar Oehring is Head of the Human Rights Office of the German Catholic charity Missio. A trial has begun in Turkey of influential people alleged to be part of an ultra-nationalist group, Ergenekon. The court case reveals 86 members, ranging from the Turkish police, army, business, politics, and the mass media, are alleged in a plan to assassinate the Ecumenical Patriarch, along with the murder of two Turkish Christians. Ergenekon members are alleged to have maintained deathlists of people, including Christians with a missionary background. The Malatya murder trial is revealing plausible links between Ergenekon, the "deep state" and the murders.)

Pioneering historical investigation of the genocide of the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syrian Christians of Upper Mesopotamia during World War I uses primary sources of Turkish, Russian, German, French, and Arabic origin, and oral histories by survivors and their descendants.